Mayor bullish about tech job hopes

London's tech economy could grow by £12 billion over the next decade, creating 46,000 new jobs, new research claims.

The capital's digital economy will grow by 5.1% per year over the next 10 years, according to Oxford Economics, which carried out the research for Mayor Boris Johnson's London & Partners promo organisation ahead of London Technology week, which starts today.

Separate research claims that the tech sector in London, the south east and eastern England, including Oxford and Cambridge, is growing faster than California.

The analysis by South Mountain Economics, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, claims London is a world leader in financial technology, employing more workers in the sector than New York and Silicon Valley.

Mr Johnson will be joined by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg today as he attempts to woo the hi-tech money and jobs to the capital.

Mr Johnson said: "Tech Week is a superb opportunity to hail the success of London's tech sector, which despite only being in adolescence already makes a tremendous contribution to our economy and is outperforming our rivals around the globe.

"The tentacles of our digital army now spread to every corner of the capital and far beyond.

"We forecast that they will generate a whopping £12 billion of economic activity and 46,000 new jobs in the capital over the next decade."

Some 30,000 tech entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders and developers from around the world are expected to attend more than 2000 events featuring representatives of companies including Microsoft, Samsung, Google, Eventbrite and Yammer, plus UK success stories like Mind Candy and Hassle.

As the five-day event was launched Swedish online payments firm Klarna confirmed it is setting up a UK headquarters in London, with a £100 million investment plan.

A company spokesman said: "London is the natural choice not only because it is a base for growth in the UK, but also because it's a springboard to continued global expansion."

The Mayor of London's office also said that King's College London and the University of Warwick will announce today they intend link up with New York University to create a Centre for Urban Science and Progress in London, which will be based at Canada Water in Docklands from 2018.

Mr Bloomberg said: "Ten years ago, no one thought of New York or London as a competitor to Silicon Valley - but today, more and more tech companies are looking to our cities as places to launch and grow, because they offer such diversity, creative talent, and high quality of life.

"Tech companies thrive on data, and the new Centre for Urban Science and Progress in London will harness the power of data to make London an even better place, just as NYU-CUSP is doing in New York."

London recently became only the second in the world to get it's own location-based internet domain address; .london, following in the footsteps of New York, where businesses can now use the address .nyc.